LAREDO, Texas - Haley Dotson posted 11 kills as one of four Jets with seven or more kills, but it wasn't enough to lead the Newman volleyball team past Texas A&M International. It took five sets, but the Dustdevils handed the Jets a 3-2 (25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-6) loss Saturday afternoon at the Kinesiology Building in Laredo, Texas.

-Newman kept things close in the opening stages of Saturday's first set. Katelyn Schmidtberger and Haley Dotson blocked a TAMIU attack attempt to give the Jets a 6-5 lead, but the Dustdevils responded with a five-point run to take a 10-6 lead. Newman was up to the task. A Schmidtberger kill followed by three-straight TAMIU attack errors allowed the Jets to tie the match at 11-11. After forcing a 12-12 tie on a Jeana Farruggia kill, Allison Bailey recorded a kill of her own to give Newman a 13-12 lead. The Jets extended that lead to 16-14 after a Karol Marins kill, but an Amanda Savage service error gave the ball back to the Dustdevils, who responded with seven-straight points to take control of the set, 22-16. The Dustdevils went on to win the opening set, 25-18.

-The second set was tight the entire way. Newman enjoyed an early 4-2 lead after a Dotson kill, but TAMIU resonded with four-straight points to take a 6-4 lead of its own. The Dustdevilsextended that lead to as many as 13-9 before the Jets started to fight back. Back-to-back Dotson kills cut the Dustdevil lead to 13-11. Newman made its statement just moments later when a Schmidtberger kill sparked a five-point rally that turned a 15-13 deficit into a 17-15 lead. This time, the Jets held on to that lead, and evened the match with a 25-22 second-set win.

-Texas A&M International returned the favor in the third set. The Dustdevils jumped out to an 8-4 lead. Three-straight Dustdevil errors helped Newman climb back into the set, and narrowed the Dustdevil lead to 12-11, but TAMIU answered with a 6-1 run to take control of the set with an 18-12 lead. From there, the Dustdevils never led by less than four and cruised to the 25-17 third-set win.

-Newman evened things up in the fourth set. The Jets jumped out to an early 3-1 lead, and trailed just once in the early stages, but a TAMIU attack error sparked a six-point rally that erased a 7-6 deficit and gave Newman a 12-7 lead after a Gabby Loxterman kill. Newman withstood a four-point Dustdevil rally that brought the hosts to within three, 21-18, but the Jets were able to emerge with the 25-19 fourth-set win.

-The Dustdevils made their statements early and often in the decisive fifth set. TAMIU took an early 4-0 lead, and stretched that lead to 8-3 when the two teams switched sides. Following the switch, TAMIU scored five of the next six points in the set to take a 12-4 lead before winning the match with a 15-6 fifth-set win.

-Haley Dotson led Newman's offensive efforts. The sophomore overcame a .026 attack percentage to record 11 kills, and was one of four Jets to finish with seven-or-more kills. Jeana Farruggia added nine kills while Katelyn Schmidtberger and Allison Bailey added eight and seven kills, respectively.

-Newman hit .106 in the match, recording 47 kills and committing 30 attack errors on 161 attack attemps. Texas A&M International hit .147 in the contest.

-Gabby Loxterman set 38 of Newman's 43 assists in Saturday's match.

-The Jets used a team effort defensively. Kristen White led Newman with 18 digs while Schmidtberger added 12. Michelle O'Dell also had a piece in the action, adding 10 digs of her own.

-Service errors plagued the Jets in Saturday's match. The Jets committed 11 errors from the service line, while TAMIU committed just three service blunders.

With the loss, the Jets drop to 4-19 on the season, and 1-9 in Heartland Conference play. Newman will return home next week for a pair of contests against Arkansas-Fort Smith on Thursday and Friday. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.